MoshJosh’s smallest, cheapest, and least safe rack ver. 2.0

I decided a few things. Firstly nine tanks is too many for me, want to go down to six. Secondly 10 gallon tanks are too small for what I want to do. So it’s time to build another rack to replace my 10 gallon racks. In the end I should have 6 20 gallon long tanks.

Using Weathershield Redwood for this project, should have, and would have preferred just regular pine, but all that was left at Home Depot looked pretty bad. Not sure if it’s the woods fault, but having a heckuva time using wood glue, tight bond three, doesn’t seem to want to set up. I have a feeling it’s because this wood is somewhat moist, I think it’s the chemicals they use to weather treat it??? Regardless the wood glue isn’t really providing the strength/isn’t intended to. May use epoxy once I have all my holes drilled. Speaking of drills, would’ve been nice to have a drill press, also I should’ve splurged on the more expensive bit, the cheap one that I started out with ended up splitting some wood and drifting quite a bit. . .

Anyway, really only needing to support the tanks in the corners, this build supports each corner with 2 3/8 inch galvanized steel bolts, should be more than strong enough. . . Wood could fail, however it should be OK, the weakest link is likely the uprights, I can’t find good info on how much weight they can bear. They can bear my weight though ha ha

once all is said and done I will likely test this outside. . . It’s pretty sketchy.
It isn’t done quite yet, but I ran out of bolts so I had to stop.

 

I would personally want much thicker upright corner supports (maybe 4x4) and would probably use metal angle support brackets to support the cross pieces that will hold the weight of the tanks.

 

I don’t disagree that this could be more sturdy haha. But it’s sort of a byproduct of the goal, cheap and small. I’ve used this same design (similar design, less bolts and smaller side supports) for 3 10 gallon tanks and so far so good. I’m trying to push that design

 

Here it is “complete”. But that I mean all the holes are drilled. I plan on letting this dry out for the next couple days (as mentioned before Some of the word was moist, not sure if water or weatherproofing chemicals). I then plan on unbolting, Gluing, and then re-bolting the whole stand. . . . Will let the glue dry completely and then REALLY tighten the bolts. . . that’s the plan anyway:

 

It looks good but I have to admit I’d be really nervous using this to hold close to 600lbs…